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Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Quality Education, is all we need!

In almost all countries, Teachers'
Day is celebrated on different days and months and in India, the birthday of
the second president of India Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on September 5 is
celebrated as Teachers' Day. Dr Radhakrishnan was also a teachers besides being
a philosopher and a devout follower of his faith. Much has been said in the
past and, where speeches have been made by all and sundry to express deep
appreciation of the yeoman service rendered to society by teachers.

Generally, teachers are described as
those who teach students the three R's- reading, 'riting (writing) and
'rithmetic (arithmetic). A few centuries later, teaching has come to mean more
than telling and teaching about the three R's. If earlier, teaching was
restricted to making students literate, a few centuries later, it emphasised on
problem solving and personality development etc. Today, teaching has become a
very different profession unlike what it was some forty to fifty years ago.

In the past forty to fifty years back, teachers ruled with the stick. Students
had to obey every rule-from dress codes to behaviour to doing homework etc.
Today teachers mix freely with their students and don't apply the rule but
instead do their best to inspire students to do the expected. Many institutions
do not insist that students wear uniforms and so dress codes have become a
thing of the past.

These external matters do count in some institutions but what has become
critical in many contemporary societies, is the rapid evolution in the quality
and ability of teachers in dealing with multiple and complex problems. What has
changed today- learning is no longer the domain of class room teachers. As
students have access to any information possible, there certainly is no need to
"spoon-feed" the knowledge or teach "one-size fits all"
content. Earlier, the internet turned the whole world into a global village.

It was believed then, that internet has brought a far reaching revolution. The
world has changed so much because of the digital revolution during the past few
decades. Well, that was not to be and today, the world has again undergone
another huge transformation after the digital revolution ushered in SMS,
Facebook, Twitter, Chats etc to a totally new and dynamic era. Perhaps the most
profound impact of the technological transformation that have taken place, is
that the focus today is not in being literate (reading, writing and
arithmetic).

Today the focus is to be computer literate without which, no one can hope to be
a player in any field. The internet has all the information with graphics and
videos that stimulate learning and making the learning highly interactive and
educative. A teacher who is not digital literate stands to be outdated in
today's fast changing paradigms. This can also mean, that the idea of teachers
is no longer confined to those who are employed in institutions.

It is all about the power of harnessing the technology and any teacher who is
digitally illiterate will be left behind.

India, Whether to invest in quality education –

Deputy prime minister of Singapore
Tharman Shanmugaratnam recently delivered a stimulating speech on India's
growth prospects and what is holding the country back. He was unequivocal in
stating that "schools are the biggest crisis in India". He went to
say, "schools are the biggest gap between India and its East Asian
neighbours; funds are not the only requirement to improve it; it has to be
about organisation and culture." The deputy PM is the first world leader
to hit the nail on the head by pointing out that societal transformation is
even more important than economic reform. He even said, that India must
invest in quality education to become an economic superpower.

Confirming with his views is Unesco's Global
Education Monitoring report, which says that India is expected to achieve
universal primary education by 2050, secondary education in 2060 and upper
secondary education in 2085.

Our neighbours in East Asia have
invested in social capital and moved up the economic ladder. South Korea,
China, Thailand and India had similar GDP per capita a few decades ago. South
Korea has already become a developed country, China is on its way, Thailand is
stuck in the "middle income trap" and India is still an
underdeveloped country. Economic progress has been directly correlated with
investments in delivering quality education. The top performing countries on
the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) - Shanghai (China),
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan - are also the most
developed in Asia. We can learn from their reform initiatives.

Teacher recruitment: The quality of
an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. The experience
of top school systems across East Asia suggests that two things matter most:
One, getting the right people to become teachers, and, two, developing them
into effective instructors. Teaching is made aspirational by increasing the
entry barrier into the profession. India should insist that students take a
teacher college entrance test in order to quality for DEd. and BEd. programmes.
Our states have to transform their ineffective recruitment processes and select
candidates based on their academic achievement, communication skills and
motivation and preparedness for teaching.

Every day there is construction.
Every day there is destruction. Every day we see India the progressive and
positive. Every day we see India the narrow and negative. Every day we move up.
Every day we go down. Every day the future looks bright. Every day the future
looks dark. Every day we see new hope. Every day we feel helpless. Every day we
have dreams. Every day we have nightmares.

Contradictions abound. We cannot say
confidently whether our country is in progressive or regressive mode. Chaos is
more pronounced in our educational system. Like a double-edged weapon it seems
to be producing catalysts for construction and agents of destruction at once.

I feel a chill as I wonder if a
glorious nation aspiring to lead the new age would end up being pushed into the
Dark Ages.

We have the largest student
population in the world, with over 315 million youngsters in schools. Within a
few years of joining primary classes, 10 million drop out because of poverty or
to join family work or for other reasons. They do little that is meaningful or
get employment, and thus run the risk of becoming agents of destruction.

A close at the state of education
can be shockingly revealing. There are just about 20 per cent who possibly get
the blessings of quality education. This means there are about 80 per cent who
are still far away from the real values of education. These two sets of people
grow up and evolve so differently that while some finally become catalysts of
construction, many emerge as agents of destructions, thus force the country to
march one step forward and four steps backward at the same time. That puts a
big question mark on our ability to reach the cherished destination on time. We
all know a little about this pitiable reality, but surely we are not giving it
a serious thought.

On the one hand, there is the
well-developed English medium, privately managed public school system of
education and on the other is the under nourished government-school system of
education. The differences start at the primary level, and over time become
drastic.

Public schools start with good
infrastructure, quality teachers, power-packed teaching methodologies and of
course high costs. All modern, scientific and psychologically tested formulas
are applied here to spot the best in any child and to get the very best out of
him or her.

Experimental processes of play-based
and experience-based learning, and skill-based empowerment formulas are
explored to ensure a child's wholesome and rhythmic growth backed by a very
supportive environment. The child evolves through stages of growth and a
coherent superstructure of growth of personality and knowledge is built. By the
time a 2-year-old child grows to six, he or she knows unimaginable things.

By the time the child reaches the
middle stage of school, he or she already has a well-developed core personality
with a distinct outlook, knowledge attributes and an attitude that would go a
long way to build a value citizen. This is the set of people who choose their
higher education and career paths carefully. These are the people who
contribute value as the finest of engineers, doctors, planners, scientists,
lawyers, judges, IT wizards, NASA or ISRO researchers or business men and
entrepreneurs, people who help build their life as well as the nation in a
constructive way.

Now let's come to the education that
our 80 percent get. They are mostly from the rural areas and from the low
income and working classes of urban areas, people who find it a strain to just
be able to send their children to nearby sarkari schools where primary
education comes free or with just a small fee.

These are the schools packed with
the children of lesser gods, many of whom go to schools more to eat, thanks to
the mid-day free meal, than to study. There is more hunger for food than for
knowledge and unfortunately the kids here get less of both by quality as well
as quantity. If the food called midday meal comes adulterated, at times many
fall sick too.

The education they are fed is also
of low quality and of far less value. Majority of our primary schools in rural
areas start class with either no black board or no books or no teachers. Some
reports say there are over 100,000 single-teacher schools in our country where
the teacher has to play the roles of a cook, a nurse, a clerk, a peon and of
course a teacher.

The majority of teachers don't have
the required training to deliver quality education. Many of them even do side
business for extra earning and hardly care for students' learning. The whole
system is so mired with recklessness that there is hardly any meaningful
supervision or accountability. One thing I can bet is that a majority of
children getting education in rural areas up to secondary level may not be able
to tell who the vice President of India or Governor of the State where they are
studying is.

In February 2015 Maharashtra held
its annual evaluation tests for teachers of government-run schools who teach
from class one to eight (known through a survey). Out of 245,800 primary
teachers just one per cent passed. Of 142,858 who took the test at the upper
primary level, less than five per cent passed. The irony is that we feel good
about universal primary education having been achieved with 99 per cent of
children from 6-14 years in school. But hardly anyone thinks about how bad
these schools are or what will happen to a cast number of our children. Bihar,
Orissa, Jharkhand, UP, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh are states where the
scenario is even bleaker than in Maharashtra.

A television journalist in his
annual Independence Day programme asked rural people what they would have said
in an I-Day speech if they were the Prime Minister. I wish I had been asked
that question. My answer would be that first we must generate more money and
keep aside largest possible budget for education. Ensure collection of maximum
taxes from the untapped and known sources. Employ honest and efficient officers
and ethical practices to collect taxes in a friendly and functional way. If the
Income Tax and Excise departments do this job with dedication and honesty, I
would put the first year's collection target at Rs 5 lac crore above the
previous year.

Second, we must ensure quality
education-supportive infrastructure all over the country - schools with space
for gardens, recreation facilities, libraries, common room and other amenities.
Thirdly to make the school futuristic in thought and direction, and quality
minded about everything, I would invite the best graduates of IIT, IIM and
other great institute to join as principals of government schools of 100
villages, of course with a salary that befits their real market worth.

I would encourage these principals
to start Super 30, Super 50 or Super 100- type coaching institutions in rural
areas with active participation of responsible corporates to nurture the best
talents. Driven on and inspired by creative ethical values, they will
contribute vastly towards the real making of this country.

Fourthly I would go for a
teacher-friendly and teaching-supportive policy where every teacher would have
to display a certain standard of teaching excellence. The fact is that many of
our teachers are ill equipped to impart quality education; they should be made
lifelong students to learn the best to teach even better. Making the policy
teacher-friendly, I would offer opportunities to all teachers to keep learning
while earning. Every teacher would be required to pass a test every five years
to qualify for increment and promotion.

School rationalisation: India's
public education system is fragmented with 1.1 million schools catering to 150
million students. It is challenging to drive system-wide reform in this
context. China had a similar problem and has shrunk its number of public schools
from 650,000 to 375,000 while improving learning outcomes through larger rural
schools. Rajasthan has launched a similar initiative to build larger model
schools and other states should look to do the same.

India has to act with a sense of
urgency after coming second last on Pisa 2009. Vietnam has the same per capita
income as India and with focused reforms now ranks on par with Germany in Pisa
2012. If we harbour any aspiration of being an economic superpower, we should
learn from East Asia and implement transformational reforms.

Why does not our visionary PM invite
the best of people and seek expert suggestions on how best to equip our education
system so as to build a value nation that meets a billion aspirations? We have
reached such a dangerous situation that even a little delay could be so
catastrophic.

This yawning gap between sections of our society
must come to end. Quality Education for all should be the mission of our
Democracy.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------